Alleged Plan to Assassinate Netanyahu Thwarted

An alleged plan by two Hamas-linked young men to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a suicide bombing was revealed on Friday when indictments were served against the East Jerusalem residents.

Hazm Sandouka, 22, and Fahdi Abu Kian, 19, were charged with belonging to a terror organization, aiding an enemy during wartime, contact with a foreign agent and other offenses. The Jerusalem District Attorney asked to extend the suspects’ remand until the end of the legal proceedings.

According to the indictment, the pair helped Ahmad Azam, a Hamas operative, in preparations for terror attacks using explosives. Azam rented an apartment in the Abu Dis neighborhood, rented tools and began purchasing chemical materials. Sandouka allegedly proposed placing a bomb in an auditorium, underneath the stage on which the prime minister was to deliver a speech. The pair planned the event but did not set a date.

The indictment detailed Hamas’s planning. Azam received instructions from a Hamas operative in Gaza, referred to as “Abu Omar” in the indictment. Contact between the two was handled via a program that sends coded messages and cell phones that were destroyed after use. Azam, according to the indictment, recruited the two other defendants at Abu Dis University.